Mini-Lathe for Home Machinists Paperback – Illustrated, 1 Jun. 2012

great book

This is an excellent guide to setting up the many versions of the Chinese-made mini lathe that are on offer from Axminster, Chester and the like. The book intriduces the lathe, and then goes on to give general advice on tools and accessories, before moving on to a few first projects which will provide some practice while making useful additions or alterations to the lathe itself. A great wee guide.

These Chinese lathes have changed and new versions have appeared over the last 10 years. However the book will still be useful in many general ways for more recent owners. Irritatingly all measurements are in inches and many in thousandth of an inch so I assume the author is American. You will need to do your own measurements anyway but comparison will be tedious if you are a metric person. The photographs are small and in black and white which makes part identification difficult. My advice would be to find a newer version of this type of book hopefully with metric measurements as well as imperial.

Usefull as a first time lathe owner and user. I would have liked more info on the use of chisel bits for various operations like angle of tool for facing or cutting. Generally a great book worth buying as it allows you to improve you machine while learning to use the machine

I am not a professional but i do my share of DYI from electrics to plbing, carpentery etc. i am definitely in the top percentile of home handimen. Next step is obviously a mini lathe. I was looking for a book that would explain how to use it, ie which bit does what, i was expecting a book that tells you what are the parts of the machine and which bits to use for each relevant job, ie cutting, trimming, boring, threading. Well, this book doesn't contain anything like that. It tells you hot to clean the machine, how to optimise ita gears etc. it is like "pimp my mini lathe" book.Sterr away if you want a book that prepares you for buying your first mini lathe, you would find better info online and for free.

There's nothing really wrong with this book if judged on its own. However I thought it might be a good compliment to a book I already have by the same author - The Mini-lathe (Workshop Practice). Amazon even recommend that people buy these together. Well, it turns out that it is exactly the same book. The only difference I could see is that the photos are printed a little clearer in this one.By all means buy this book if you want to set up your Sieg C3 (or similar) lathe. Don't buy both though.

Just a tad outdated, nevertheless is still a very useful and interesting book to have in the library.No reason to regret purchasing this item.

If you are looking for advice on the Mini Lathe. You will be better advised to visit mini-lathe.com. This is a site created by Frank Hoose. It has a wealth of information about the lathe and how to use it.If you want a book about lathe work. Try Lathework a complete course by Harold Hall.